Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/146

 "Surely, if he so ardently loves you, and also because the Lord God will allow this, he will not deny you this request. After you have obtained this favor from him, enter the room which will be assigned to you where you will fast for forty days and say one thousand "Pater Nosters" daily.  I will assure you that if you do that you will be liberated from the great ordeal which you are now experiencing.

It is needless to say that Giulla and Achel were satisfied by the words of the confessor. After he gave them his blessing, the holy man asked to leave and departed. Not long thereafter, a large company of richly dressed women, ordered by the King, arrived at the residence of the father of the young woman to accompany her solemnly to the palace. Giulla received them cheerfully and they stayed awhile with her. Later, together with her faithful Achel, accompanied by her sorrowful mother and the matrons of the King, she set out for the royal palace. The King who had received the news of her arrival, immediately descended the stairs of the palace and awaited her in the courtyard with an esteemed company of knights. So, when she arrived in his presence, she asked him for a forty-day time period, as she was instructed by her confessor. The King granted her this cheerfully, called his treasurer and presented her with a solemn gift of very precious jewels.